SPIRIT WORKS; 



REAL BUT NOT MIRACULOUS. 



LECTURE 



READ AT THE CITY HALL IN ROXBURY, MASS., 



ON THE EVENING OP SEPTEMBER 21st, 1853. 



V 



BY ALLEN PUTNAM 



^ 






BOSTON: 


BELA 


MARSH, No. 25 CORNHILL 




1853. 



o 

<1> 



2 



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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, 

By Allen Putnam, 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 

WRIGHT AND HASTY, PRINTERS, 3 WATER STREET, BOSTON. 



PREFACE. 



At the request of more than thirty highly intelligent and respectable 
gentlemen, my neighbors and friends, the following Lecture was pre- 
pared, and on the evening of Sept. 21, 1853, it was read at the City 
Hall, Boxbury, in the presence of four or five hundred attentive 
hearers. It was prepared for those who know me ; and not designed 
for general circulation. 

Not many days elapsed, after its delivery, before there came from 
Boston, an earnest request that it should be repeated there ; and the 
inquiry has been several times put, whether its author would go to 
other cities and tf&wns for the purpose of reading to such as might 
choose to hear. The invitation from Boston has been accepted, for 
the evening of November 1st, at the Melodeon ; but my health and 
business each forbids extended excursions from home, and forbids the 
frequent repetition of the physical exertion required for its delivery. 
Under these circumstances I have decided to put the Lecture in print. 

The views here presented will be novel to very many readers, and 
will not harmonize with their long cherished, fixed, and yet indefinite 
notions, concerning the condition, powers, and occupations of their 
departed kindred. 

Friends would restrain me, for no one is so blind as not to see 
that avowal of belief in spirit agency, will be followed by the charge 
of mental weakness, delusion, or folly. The charge will come not 
from the weak and wicked alone, but from the wise and devout. It 



will come from relatives and friends, kind and sincere. Such avowal 
therefore will not be made, by the calm considerate mind — excepting 
upon the evidence furnished through one's own senses, and that re- 
peated over and over again — and weighed well in the mental balances. 
Even after this process, and when conviction cannot be resisted, there 
are in most cases circumstances which are allowed to stifle confession. 
Whether they justify this stifling, each individual must judge in his 
own case. 

There appear to my mind, results too high and noble, involved in 
these ridiculed rappings and tippings, to admit of my being deterred 
by the timid pleadings of worldly policy, or the sneers of those, how- 
ever wise and kind, who have seen none of the wonders, from giving 
them-the limited countenance and favor which my character for truth, 
sagacity, conservatism and -benevolence may afford. What that char- 
acter is, others must tell : — but let me say that however it may be 
rated, and however valuable it may be to me, it cannot be worth more 
than I would gladly pay for the extension of such influences through 
the world, as promise to flow from the lessons which man is beginning 
to learn from his elder brothers who have escaped from bondage to the 
clay, and soared to regions of clearer vision and more accurate 
knowledge. 

When those who wish me well, advise me to refrain from my investi- 
gations, their words produce upon me much the same effect, as would 
be experienced were the devout heathen to beg me not to worship the 
Christian's God, or believe in Christ as God's best beloved Son, and 
man's best teacher and guide. The advice is kindly meant, and there- 
fore kindly received ; but it is given in absolute ignorance, and there- 
fore is most properly disregarded. 

Being unknown to fame, these pages may perhaps fall into the 
hands of many, who are ignorant of my personal history. For the last 
ten years my business has been that of a dealer in wood and coal. 
For the three years next farther back, I blended the labors of the 



farmer, the preacher, and the editor of the New England Farmer. In 
the six years from '34 to '40, I mingled preaching, farming and legis- 
lating, but devoted my efforts mainly to the removal of extreme dys- 
pepsia which had fastened itself very firmly npon me, carrying me 
near to the grave, and permanently unfitting me for sedentary pursuits 
— driving me to more active, out-of-door occupation. Three years 
prior to that, I was a preacher of the Unitarian order at Augusta, Me., 
having previously received theological and collegiate education at 
Cambridge. These statements, or something equivalent, may be due 
from me to my distant relative but near friend and pastor, Eev. George 
Putnam — who is the Mr. Putnam of Roxbury — and who might per- 
chance be charged, abroad, with the offence of being author of so 
unclerical a work as this. The chief reason however for this egotistical 
sketch, is to show, that the mind which composed the following Lec- 
ture, however feeble and credulous it may be deemed, has yet enjoyed 
fair opportunities : has necessarily studied the simpler principles, at 
least, of physical, intellectual, theological and political science; and 
has often been called upon to weigh evidence and deduce conclusions. 
Whatever power and skill that mind possesses, were most strenuously 
and perseveringly applied, in the outset, to reason around or away 
from the opinion that spirits can and do work the wonders that are 
now seen and heard. But the facts — yes, the facts — were too plain 
and stubborn, to be either covered up or broken down. Once seen, 
they would, in spite of all old notions, keep before the mental vision ; 
there they would persistently stand, distinct and strong, and would 
teach over and over again that there was something speaking as never 
man spake; that there was some hidden intelligence conveying its 
thoughts to me. 

What then must be my course ? It was neither manly, Christian, 
nor pious, to deny a conviction which the facts, that my own eyes and 
ears were witnessing, forced upon the mind. Delay, until assurance 
should become doubly sure, might be admissible. And not until an 



entire year of the hiost faithful scrutiny, reflection and re-reflection, 
had passed, did it seem best to avow belief. 

But at length — as a duty to God, to good angels, and to man, it was 
made — made without reserve — without qualification. I believed at 
first, because I could not honestly — no — nor even dishonestly help 
believing. The conviction came and stuck — and still sticks — and long 
may it continue to stick, for it is fraught with the richest, holiest, 
calmest thoughts and feelings which my mind has ever cherished, or in 
which my soul has ever bathed. 

Reader, I ask not that you should believe because I do. But when- 
ever there shall be opportunity, let me trust you will calmly look at 
facts, and follow wherever these heaven-born guides shall lead. Should 
they bring you to faith in spiritualism — in doing that, they will, if 
such be your wish, let you see and feel that there are helping hands 
and heavenward attractions, in those invisible witnesses around, who 

" Hold thee in full survey." 

ALLEN PUTNAM. 
Roxbury, Oct. 20th, 1853. 



LECTURE. 



In compliance with an invitation from many of you, my 
friends, it is expected that I shaH speak concerning 
" what are called, spirit manifestations" 

This subject has attracted such extensive attention, 
and has taken such hold of very many minds, as to 
give it fair and urgent claims to be investigated. It is 
time that somebody should begin to examine well and 
to speak. Most of those men who have been at all 
trained to public speaking, sustain such public relations 
and duties, as debar them from free and fair examina- 
tion, and consequently form satisfactory conclusions. 
They are not yet ready to speak — and not ready, for 
good and sufficient reasons, — they have had no suitable 
opportunity for investigation and reflection. But it^ 
nappens that I hold no public station, have no literary 
or scientific fame to mar or lose, and no parishioners 
to dog my steps and growl out their discontent, if I 
swerve a little this way or that from the old ruts worn 
by the wheels of by-gone ages. In coming here, I 
seem to put little at stake beyond my character for 
mental soundness — unless, perchance, you should hap- 
pen to suspect that coal from the wharf of a spiritualist 
would contain an undue infusion of sulphur ; or opine 



that invisible helps would lift the scale-beam too soon. 
On these points I trust you, 

On an afternoon of July, 1852, an invitation was 
given me to go to a room fifteen or twenty rods from 
my wharf, and see a " spiritual medium." The invita- 
tion was accepted ; and when arrived at the place, I 
found seven or eight of my neighbors, intelligent busi- 
ness men and mechanics, all ready to be my associate 
witnesses. We, all mutually acquainted, and yet 
strangers to the medium, set out the table-, placed our- 
selves around it, and invited the medium to draw up 
and complete the circle. The entertainment was abso- 
lutely new to all of us, save one; and judging the 
others by myself, and by conversation held with them 
shortly after, I think there was little faith in any of us 
when we entered the room, that there would be any 
thing exhibited that we should be much puzzled to 
account for. Though disposed to be civil and cour- 
teous towards the young lady — medium — we were also 
as much disposed to find out whether she snapped her 
toes, or used concealed machinery. Seven or eight 
pair of eyes, having no particular sympathy with her 
or her operations, watched her narrowly for more than 
an hour inbroad daylight, and with a purpose to detect 
imposition, if any should be attempted. We had been 
seated but a short time before raps were distinctly 
heard, apparently on the surface of the table before us, 
where no visible rapping power appeared. One after 
another of us, in turn around the table, asked for spirit 
friends. Sometimes there were raps in apparent re- 
sponse to the questions, and sometimes not. Once, 
and I think twice, a tune was very well drummed upon 



9 

the table before us, though visible drum-sticks were 
wanting. The other witnesses who were then present 
will excuse me if I omit particular notice of what came 
to them, and dwell rather minutely upon what there 
happened to myself. I do this, because it was in my 
own case only that I could have accurate knowledge of 
the state of mind, in the person to whom the communica- 
tion was being addressed, which is an important point. 
When, in turn it belonged to me to put a question, I 
asked — Have I a spirit friend here? (Three raps) 
Yes. Will you spell out your relationship \ Yes. 
Then I took into my own hands the alphabet and pen- 
cil, and watched closely as possible my own mental ope- 
rations. In answer to a mental question put by myself 
to myself — viz : Who among my departed relatives can 
it be] I thought of two grand-parents, two brothers, 
two sisters and two wives, as making up the circle from 
which I should most likely be addressed, if any one 
of them could address me. Then with the words 
brother, grandfather, sister and wife distinctly in my 
mind, (and as well as I can determine, my good old 
grandfather being the most prominent) I began to put 
the pencil upon the letters, and at B — brother, listened 
for a rap, but none came ; passing on from letter to 
letter, at G — grandfather, I dwelt longer than upon 
the others, and by a glance at the medium tried to 
convey a hint that that was the place for a sound, but 
none came. Much the same was done at S, and with 
the same result. But I had hardly reached W, before 
the three sounds were heard ; and soon the word wife 
was spelt entire. 

Having been bereaved of two who sustained that 

2 



10 



near relation to me, there was yet no clue by which to 
identify the rapper. My next question was— Will you 
spell your christian name % Answer — Yes. Then with 
thoughts upon both of them, I put the pencil to A, and 
had the raps, and at B also, and soon Abigail was 
spelt. I said to her with some emotion, Will you com- 
municate I Answer — Yes. 

Up to this time I had used the alphabet and pencil 
myself, and a friend had penciled down such letters as 
the sounds marked out. But now, I asked that friend 
to take the alphabet and pencil^ and let me be the aman- 
uensis. This change was made — and guided by the 
raps, he named letters and I put them down — each 
separately, not joined into words nor divided into sen- 
tences. Six or eight lines of letters were thus written 
out across a sheet of paper, while my own mind was 
very closely occupied in catching the letters which my 
friend was naming, and in putting them down in proper 
order. Occasionally I knew that the last few letters 
made a word ; and at times, after getting two or three 
letters, the mind would anticipate enough to complete 
a word. But I had only indefinite knowledge of any 
sentence until the whole was finished. And I have 
distinct \ remembrance that when Abb had been given 
me, I was wondering what letter could be added that 
would make or help to make any common word. And 
when my friend named Y, my surprise was great — 
very great — for there I had, Abby. Abigail at the 
commencement. Abby at the close. This friend had 
been gone from me eighteen years ; had never lived in 
Roxbury; had never been known, even by name, so 
far as I can learn, to any other person then present 



11 

than myself. And I am sure, that I not only did not 
anticipate the word Abby, but was wondering what the 
Abb could mean before the y was added. Now the 
facts in the case are that that lady's name was Abigail 
— she was so christened — she so wrote her name when 
connecting it with any legal instrument — but was 
called Abby, and so signed her letters. On this occa- 
sion she announced her name as Abigail at the com- 
mencement, but signed her affectionate communication 
to me — Abby. 

Here we have a case in which it is morally certain — 
I think, absolutely certain — that neither the name nor 
its two-fold form was known to any one present except- 
ing myself, as having belonged to my departed com- 
panion. Though watching the process of my own 
mind, I had no consciousness of furnishing any help to 
my friend while he gave the letters which spelt her 
name ; no thought that he was getting her name ; no 
consciousness that name, communication or any thing 
else was being drawn out from my mind, while mine 
was the only mind present in which the facts regarding 
that name were known. 

If now, intellectual or physical science or philosophy 
can tell me what mind, in a living body, did furnish or 
could furnish all that my friend then, there, and thus 
spelled out, the science or philosophy must have some 
process, with the very simplest and plainest principles 
of which I have formed no acquaintance. I ask the 
objector to show me what other mind than that of my 
departed companion there and thus operated — and I 
will endeavor to give his statements a candid consider- 
ation. 



12 

Some weeks subsequent to the meeting above de- 
scribed, when thoughts of spirits and of the possibility 
of their speaking to us had become familiar, I sought 
another medium, and invited her to my own parlor and 
table. There her hand traced a few characters bearing 
a strong resemblance to letters of the Greek alphabet, 
though I could not identify them all, as such. In 
immediate connection with these characters her hand 
wrote John Txxtmun. At a still later sitting, this name, 
John Vutmun, came out again, and in connection with 
it a long and good communication concluding thus : — 
" This is from your old grandfather, an inhabitant of 
the Celestial Heavens, given through the medium of 
E,. G. Ellis, by John Tutmun to my earthly child." 

Now I have no direct ancestor by the name of John, 
till I get back to one who settled in Salem, 1634. He 
came there with three sons, Thomas, Nathaniel and 
John. Also the name of Elizabeth Putnam, supposed 
to be a daughter of the elder John, appears on the 
Salem records in 1629. 

These statements are introductory to the following. 
In December last the same medium's hand wrote John 
Vutmmi, Junior. You may notice that in both instan- 
ces the name is spelt P.u.t.m.w.rc, not P.u.t.n.a.m, as all 
of the family now spell. Putmun was formerly its pro- 
nunciation, though I am not aware that the family ever 
spelt Putmun. 

This John, Jr. was one of my very great uncles, — 
the brother of my great-grandfather's grandfather. It 
happens that having been born and reared on a spot 
where my direct ancestors have lived more than two 
hundred years, the family traditions and records are 



13 

rather familiar to me. Few of my name — probably 
one other only of the name, knows much more about 
the family history than I do. We have long since 
learned, or at least believed, that John Putnam, with 
three sons — Thomas, Nathaniel and John — came from 
Abbotston in Buckinghamshire, England, and were in 
Salem in 1634. Also we have known that the Church 
Records in Salem contain the name of Elizabeth Put- 
nam, under the date, 1629. But of the more remote 
ancestry we have no traces — no clue to even the name 
of any one of them. We know not from what port 
they sailed — at what time they left England — in what 
vessel they came — in what company — nor at what port 
they landed. 

Now this very great uncle of mine has been commu- 
nicative about family affairs. After introducing him- 
self, and giving correctly the names of his father, broth- 
ers, sister and some nephews, and telling me that he 
had been in the spirit land 189 years, he gave the name, 
of his grandfather as Hezekiah, and his occupation as 
that of weaver, in London ; his great-grandfather, he 
called Josiah. Whether these names are correct or not 
I do not know. This John, Jr. said that he himself, 
with his father and brothers, were of the Mayflower's 
third company — sailed in her from Long Peak in 1630, 
and arrived at Plymouth, New Year's day, 1631. He 
said also that the father, John, Senior, was a printer in 
London (thus rendering it possible that he was once 
familiar with the Greek alphabet, and might once have 
known how to make such characters as the medium's 
hand traced, when he first presented himself at my 
table) — that he himself, that is, John, Junior, had lived 



14 

in Edinboro' and was a minister — that Nathaniel like 
the father was a printer — that Thomas was sickly and 
taught school in a barn — that Elizabeth came over be- 
fore the others, with her husband, but not then mar- 
ried — " that father didn't like the match and she ran 
away," — that she lived in Charles town when father 
came — that her husband's name was John Putnam, a 
cousin. The narrator stated also that his father, the 
London printer, came from Yorkshire to London — and 
that his grandfather, the weaver, came from Abbotston. 
After landing at Plymouth, the father and sons, accord- 
ing to his account, removed to Boston on the other side 
of the river, (Charlestown 1) and thence to Salem where 
they settled. This narration can hardly appear as 
wonderful to you as it did to me. My medium was a 
girl of eighteen, of only common powers and education 
— I think she knows but little of our colonial history ; 
was at the time nearly a stranger to me, and never had 
occasion or opportunity to consult the few private un- 
printed records of the Putnam family, where alone the 
known facts could be learned. She must have been 
ignorant of the family history. I knew, or supposed 
that I did, of Abbotston as once the Putnam home — 
knew that Elizabeth's name was on the Salem Eecords 
in 1629 — and that the names of the elder John and his 
three sons are found, 1634. This little is all, I think, 
that any one of the present generation knows about the 
family until you come down this side of 1634. This 
much I knew already. But as you have seen, he told 
much more which I did not know. And I ask, whose 
mind named the elder John and Nathaniel as printers 1 
Young John, as a minister l and Thomas as a sickly 



15 

schoolmaster, teaching in a barn] Whose thought 
gave me Long Peak, Mayflower, Plymouth and an 
elopement, (an elopement which so curiously accounts 
for Elizabeth's name being on the records, four or five 
years before we find those of her father and brothers) ] 
My thoughts never ran in this direction. I had never 
associated the family with any other place than Salem, 
and never dreamed of Plymouth, the Mayflower, and 
Long Peak, as interwoven with their history. What 
mind was here at work % Be the statements true or 
false — and I care not which, so far as my immediate 
question is concerned, — be the statements true or false, 
what mind made them 1 The medium could not have 
hit so accurately the names and facts that I did know, 
and my own mind did not imagine the many that I did 
not know. 

Since the above was received, I have seen in Farmer's 
Genealogical Register, that the Mayflower did leave 
England in 1630, a fact that I was ignorant of at the 
time when the communication was received. Whether 
the other statements will yet receive any thing like 
verification, of course I cannot tell. 

Those three Putnam brothers built their cabins all 
upon the same brook. One of them near the tide 
waters — another about a mile, and the third about two 
miles, inland. I asked John, Jr., which of the brothers 
lived on the farm that was nearest to Gov. Endicott's 
or tide water % He answered, Nathaniel ; and this is 
in accordance with my own previous information. Then 
I asked, which of them went farthest back into the 
woods. ' He answered — me, John. I disbelieved him 
and disputed him, but he insisted that it was so. 1 



16 

did not believe him then and do not believe him now. 
Thomas, my direct ancestor, I believe, was the one. 
And now I wish this difference of opinion between him 
and me to be marked and remembered^ for we are fre- 
quently told that all the matter -of these communica- 
tions, is by some unobserved process drawn out from 
our own minds. But, if it be so, how happens it that 
this communicator and I can't agreed If the whole 
came from my own mind there certainly should be no 
quarrel — no dispute — no difference of opinion. 

Other things were stated by this pilgrim forefather 
that did not accord with my notions. " Spirits," he 
said, " mean to be correct in names and dates ; but 
these are difficult to remember — more so by spirits 
than by mortals — because spirits have no occasion to use 
them." He said also that the spiritual sense of Sweden- 
borg, seemed to him, to be nearer the truth than any 
other form of Christian faith on earth. The medium 
is a Methodist, all others then present are Unitarians. 
" All evil," he said, " all evil has to reach its fullest 
expansion, and then, like a bubble, burst." "Whence 
came this doctrine that spirits cannot remember dates 
so well as men % That Swedenborg's spiritual sense is 
the truest form in which man holds Christ's religion \ 
And that, evil expanded, like a bubble, bursts \ These 
were not my thoughts — they were not likely to be the 
thoughts of the Methodist girl. Whence came they \ 
Let the objector be definite in his answer. 

To go through minutely with each of the cases that 
I have witnessed would consume literally more than all 
the hours of a night. I must omit further details. 

If strange, invisible beings do talk to us, you very 
naturally ask — What do they say ? 



17 

One of them has said — " We are very much the same 
as when on earth, only a little progressed." A little 
progressed, from where we stand, is their avowed posi- 
tion, and the communications render the correctness of 
the statement probable. You will find among them 
the serious and the trifling — the grave and the gay — 
the wise and the foolish — the affectionate and the 
unfeeling — the devout and the irreverent. And yet in 
the main, though there will be striking exceptions, one 
will receive that which harmonizes with his own men- 
tal and moral tastes — or with the tastes of the medium 
— or with the general tastes of the company present. 
Good spirits seem to cluster around good men and bad 
ones seek their like. In most cases where quite a 
number of persons are assembled, there appears to be 
great diversity in the character of the attendant spirits. 
One will be much more likely to succeed in getting 
that which is satisfactory to himself, when he visits the 
medium alone, than when others are present. 

You will .permit me, I trust, to exercise some discre- 
tion in selecting what to present to you, from the many 
communications that have come to me. The very com- 
mon-place in thought and expression, would give you 
neither pleasure nor instruction, though it may have 
been well suited to the circumstances under which it 
was furnished. The low — (for there are some such) — 
the low — of course you must wish me to omit — while 
the amusing and witty would be better received by you 
after more acquaintance with spirit conversation than 
they will be now. I begin with some that blend the 
moral and descriptive. 

From my old Pilgrim ancestor, John Putmun, Sen., 
came these sentences. 
3 



18 

" Dear Children of Earth, — I, the spirit of your old 
ancestor come to hold sweet communion with you. I 
have watched the world — its progress in knowledge. 
Now I see noble works. Mighty ships float on the 
gigantic ocean ; grand forests have been swept down by 
the hand of man. Beautiful now are the works of 
God. Onward has man advanced, but gradually has 
mist enveloped the once pure soul of mankind. He 
has strayed from the paths of truth, and left the road 
that would lead him to join the celestial'heavens. Ay, 
(his spelling, which he would not alter) — ay, I have 
seen oppression and sin cloud the Christian's mind. 
Ay, I have beheld the name of God, the divine giver 
of all good, borne on the wings of sectarianism — thus 
has the world been made dark, and the spirit land dis- 
pelled by the thick atmosphere of gross sin. And now 
the redemption of the children of earth, is proclaimed 
by angels from the bosom of the Lamb, and the morn 
of Judgment is near. God, arrayed in sandals of holi- 
ness and the crown of brightness, is gently lifting the 
weak children of earth up, by sending his messengers 
to fathom the cloudy places of earth — to impart the 
dazzling truth of his mansions into the world. The 
prayers of angels have ascended to the Father — their 
voices have echoed through the perfect halls above. 
And now my child I want you to know the happiness 
to feel the angels impressing your fevered brow — to 
hear the melodious strains of exquisite harmony thrill- 
ing into your mind — to tread the paths of truth with 
the righteous, and think of the God that is ever shed- 
ding his love and mercy. This is from your old grand- 
father, an inhabitant of the celestial heavens, s^iveri 



19 

through the medium of E. G. Ellis, by John Vutmun, 
to my earthly child." 

A female relative who was taken from earth not 
many years since, said — " Around the earth are circles 
that are spheres. They widen in space, and as c^ey 
ascend they grow of a dazzling hue. Those (spirits ?) 
in the lowest circles, have the appearance of a dark 
body, and as I bring up your mind you would see that 
those in the higher circles were arrayed in bright robes, 
with countenances of serenely lovely expression. And 
you would see that the architecture and the horticul- 
ture and the moulds of the fine heavenly mansions 
differ vastly from the mansions below — that all things 
are in their pure state. Look down on the things of 
earth and you would see that all would appear like 
some diamond in a state of roughness and uncultivated. 
The atmosphere too would feel cold, and the air of 
earth frozen ; and you would behold the things that 
once looked beautiful to the natural eye, now coarse 
and earthly. You would behold the dear friends that 
you loved in their truthfulness and in their sins." 
(Here the communication was interrupted and has 
never been finished.) 

A long buried mother said to her daughter — " I am 
near with my precepts ; and, oh, faint not, for I do not. 
Long have I endeavored to make you sensible of my 
presence. I come to help you through the waters of 
conflicting dangers. Cast thy bread upon the waters 
and it shall return to thee of a finer wheat and sweeter 
taste that will add new strength to thy sinking soul." 

And another mother said — " Beloved child, List to 



20 

the still small voice which whispers — thy mother lives. 
Now a pearly tear of sympathy arises from the fount of 
a mother's love. I would not chide you for you are 
surrounded by the shadows of doubt, which oozes out 
from the piety of your mind." 

A near relative said to me — " I would insert a new 
branch into your finite being that shall bear the blos- 
soms called Spirit Love. How happy am I now as I 
stand in my etherial home and by the telegraph of love, 
speak to you. I can only give you the outlines of my 
home, — I have but to breathe forth a holy desire and 
there arises before me a vision filled with heavenly 
beauty — flowers spring up spontaneously before me — 
birds too make harmonious the air with their sweet 
songs of praise. I study much to find the purest jew- 
els in the cabinet of wealth. I read the Holy Pilgrim- 
age of St. Peter as he ascends to the city of God. I 
drink in the soothing words of Job which have grown 
out of his doleful lamentations. 

I have a little cherub who visits me often. O, that 
you could behold her. Her countenance expresses the 
holiness of her soul. The rosy lips part only to breathe 
a prayer for earth's children. Golden curls float around 
her, and on her brow of innocence she wears the tiny 
blossoms of love. The garments which enshroud her 
are of celestial silk. The wings are like unto the gol- 
den hues of the sun. Even now as I touch the fine 
thread of light which moves the medium, she is drawing 
sweet strains from the Harp of Hope." 

At another time, on a bright balmy morning in 
March, this same friend said to me : — 

" How lovely is this morn — it tells of a more bedaz- 



21 

zling home beyond the sun. Joy to the inhabitants of 
earth, for Jesus of Nazareth cometh. We are strewing 
the path with flowers of Faith. We are opening the 
barred doors of the mind ; and, with low murmurs, we 
bid the sons of God welcome the slain Lamb. 

In my wild joyous thoughts I forget that you are 
waiting to receive new evidence of my presence — I for- 
get that the vail of flesh is between us. Let me draw 
more closely to your earthly care and perplexities. My 
mission is to watch over you and my earthly treasure — 
the child which has traveled on through time's paths, 
and reached the age when the deep thoughts of the 
mind have burst forth to reason on all the mysteries of 
nature. You know not my affection for her." (The 
remainder of this was obviously too private for publica- 
tion.) 

As soon as that friend ceased communicating, another 
female relative said — 

" My strain is not so eloquent as dear A's. I draw 
a rude unchastened picture. But my mission is to 
bring about the same termination. Like the avenger, 
I thirst for the blood of man's ignorance, to draw it out 
drop by drop, and to effuse into his veins a pure un- 
tainted stream which will give him new life. My 
fingers are employed in disentangling the threads of the 
beautifully constructed brain ; to show man the use of 
each limb ; to bid the murmurings of his restless soul 
to cease; to solve the mystery of his being. Though 
we differ in sentiment, yet we all are toiling for man's 
promotion." 

When this friend had ceased, a lively little spirit, 
not a relative — and never known to me in the flesh — 



22 

one that is generally amusing and witty, but for once 
more serious, said :— " I am a little fellow, yet I feel 
that I can do some good in this great world. Only a 
few short hours did I breathe the tainted air of sin. 
My tiny spirit like a small bird, rose above its earthly 
parents' wings, to heaven. I found that I did not 
spring up spontaneously, therefore I sought to find out 
from whence I did come. So following a troop of 
angels, I found out there was another planet, inhabited 
by such odd and grotesque beings. [Don't slander us 
poor mortals, Natty, I said — " O, no," he replied, 
" good folks — good folks."] I could not bear to see 
them clustered around a board and in fear asking for 
tests ; I w T anted to see a seraphic smile on their coun- 
tenances ; so I just commenced to make them smile, 
and I found I had lots to do. I am happy — always 
laughing — and as the other angel says, I will help to 
bring about the same end." 

One more from a near relative—" I am always glad 
to meet you, but sometimes I fail in trying to enter a 
discordant circle. Pure spirits love harmony and seek 
its sunny influence. I find you still pursuing the shad- 
ows of spiritualism — go on ; and though you sometimes 
meet a hypocritical friend, who points out to you your 
folly, pass him by, and drive out from your soul all the 
mists of doubt, which rests its dew on your rising hopes. 
The small seed sown in Faith, and watered by Hope, 
will become a mighty Oak of Divine Trust. In the 
distance I hear the doleful hum of strife for Light. 
Like a majestic forest the proud hearts of men waver 
in the breeze of spiritual love. Truth, my friend, is 
appearing in many new forms, in tangible physical de- 



23 

monstrations and in soft whispers of angel voices. Man 
is weaving a strong chord of Faith. When the golden 
threads shall be twined, and the chord made strong, 
then, will ive lift the vail, and this chord of Faith shall 
hold it up. Angel administrations are around yon; 
they compass you with good. Man that for ages hath 
lain in the dust> arouses himself into new action ; he 
casts off the shackles of sectarianism ; and he views 
God not as a Satanic Master, but as a loving Father. 
Take you also the Saviour's cross ; with it go forth ; 
extend the hand of sympathy and assistance if need be 
to thy neighbor ; pour the incense of truth into the 
heart that is stricken with grief; let the lowly and sick 
share thy bounties ; help us to build Christ's kingdom 
on the earth, not to raise some petty machinery into 
notice, nor to exalt the vanity of the mind, but to draw 
out the Godlike properties in man's soul, and make 
him the calm, rational being for which he was intended. 
The reward will come ; — when you administer the balm 
of peace, thy own heart shall feel the soothing antidote 
first — not in the glittering gold of earth, but the rich 
jewels of heaven. And when you have reached the 
valley of death, dear departed friends will welcome you 
to Zion's morn." 

All these words, and very many more, of the same 
tone and spirit, have come to me through the hand of a 
young lady, of only common education, and common 
intellectual powers — and they were accompanied by the 
names of several different ones among my departed rela- 
tives, whom it seems impossible that she could ever 
have known by name. If the spirit and tone, if the 
sentiment and doctrine of these communications be de- 



24 

luding, then my heartiest prayer for each of you is, that 
you may be deluded. If these be the words, and 
thoughts and feelings of demons, let me welcome their 
presence and their influence, upon myself and those 
most dear to me. And let me respectfully, and in all 
truthfulness express the belief, that not many Christian 
congregations would be losers, were our clergymen to 
exchange pulpits with preachers such as these. 

Some communications more explanatory of these 
wonders, throwing some little light at least into the 
darkness that broods over our subject, will be given 
next. And to them, let me invite as close attention 
and thorough scrutiny as you individually can bestow. 

When the name of a departed relative had been writ- 
ten out, and while I was under the impression that a 
female friend was writing to me, I received as fol- 
lows : — 

" The mortals of earth expect truth from the spirit 
land ; they think that it is perfect, and that the angels 
are omnipotent. Oh, how far do they wander in the 
darkness of their own minds ! The spirit home is pro- 
gressive^ like unto this. The canting hypocrite passes 
into the heavens with the same thoughts ; the simple 
babe too passes into this new born life with all its 
child-like innocence. Each one has to mount the high 
ladder of progress. 

The lower spheres are the abodes of Satans. The 
burning fire of carnal sins envelopes them in its scorch- 
ing flames. The good are separated from the evil, and 
then do the evil-minded live out their determination of 
grossness that is interwoven in the mind when it 
enters. 



25 

There are millions in the spirit world that know not 
of the existence of this planet, even as the children of 
this earth know not of the starry worlds above. But 
on beholding angels descend to this hidden planet, they 
follow, and in wonderment behold a new world, and that 
world inhabited. Then do they find from whence they 
originated. These behold people asking questions, and 
they answer them in pure innocence and ignorance — 
this makes the discord. But God alloweth them to 
come for one great and good purpose ; for it rouseth 
man's reasoning powers. Whereas if all was correct, 
the mind, after satisfying itself with spiritual food, 
would be filled. These discrepancies are blessings, for 
they are instruments that set in motion every slumber- 
ing energy. 

The star of spiritualism has reached the horizon of 
investigation. Watch its gentle halo radiating the 
mist of doubt. The beauty you see passeth away, but 
the things of heaven pass not. Go on then to this real 
and eternal day and find repose there for the panting, 
worn out soul. From your Spirit Friend, 

Ben. Franklin. 

P. S. Excuse me, sir, for taking her place ; she 
could not have given this and I did it for her." 

At once, I said : In your autobiography, Dr. Franklin, 
you stated that you, and two friends of yours, when 
young, agreed that which ever died first, should if pos- 
sible return to the others and manifest his presence. 
But in after life you say, that though your friends have 
been long dead they have not returned to you ; there- 
fore you conclude they could not. Was this conclusion 
correct \ He answered — " I found when I met them 



26 

that they indeed came back ; but I, dull, incomprehen- 
sive being, saw them not. Suffice it, that I am here 
with a shadowy, intangible form, but with a firm mind 
and understanding." Is this — I would put the ques- 
tion to the critical and logical mind — is this the style 
in which the school girl writes and thinks ] Have any 
of you ever known me to write with equal condensation 
and power ? But this came, and came more rapidly 
than my pen could follow, where either the girl or my- 
self was author, if any spirit in the body was — and I 
surely had no consciousness of producing it. 

Another communication seemed to be Franklin's, and 
yet appeared to come through my female friend acting 
as a sort of amanuensis or operator for him, and was 
addressed to a living female friend who was with me 
when the communication was received. 

" Dear Sister, — It is the mystery of your being, 
where did this soul of mine come from % It came not 
from God's breath ; but it grew out of space and en- 
tered the beautifully constructed body which the Cre- 
ator did prepare. The soul or spirit is composed of 
electricity. But, say you, this soul is an intelligent 
thing — yea, it is filled with thought — it feels, hears, 
sees and understands. Yet this free acting soul cannot 
exist one instant without air. This soul is clothed in 
immortal robes — it is eternal. 

After the spirit ascends from the grossest body, it 
enters a body of etherial appearance ; and if thine eyes 
could behold it, to thy sight it would appear as a natu- 
ral substance. This body can be thrown off at any 
instant, and the soul can enter any shape which the occa- 
sion requires. Man now views disembodied spirits in 
a most singular manner. He supposes them capable 



27 

of exploring, accumulating, advising, discovering all the 
invisible objects of the universe. He also sneers at the 
absurdity of an angel's stooping so low as this mode of 
communicating. He stops not to find out the laws 
which may govern so great a mystery, but after giving 
a passing glance, he either decides that it is a mere 
electrical volition of the will, or else, wise critic, is 
firmly convinced that it is from the Devil. . 

But I will not dwell on those ivise men. Let me 
turn to the struggling band of investigators. I behold 
them cheerfully seeking the intelligence of heaven. 
Go on brave followers of Christ. You will all be car- 
ried to the utmost extension of your faith, and then 
will the glorious reality burst upon you that angels do 
hover near to bless. Ben. Franklin." But the com- 
munication, in reply to a question, went on thus — " Let 
me my sister, answer some questions of enthusiastic 
men. 

" The spirit is, as you suppose, a shadowy, invisible 
object. It is enabled to communicate by an agent, 
termed by philosophic men, refined electricity. Yet 
this agent enables spirits only to make sound or mo- 
tion. To convey a thought, the spirit has to make 
a strong volition of his will on the passive hand of a 
medium ; or sometimes the spirit uses the brain of the 
instrument ; and at all times uses the seeing, hearing, 
feeling, smelling and taste of the medium ; but not the 
understanding of the instrument or the use of the 
medium's knowledge. We can look within a sealed 
parcel, not by the medium's sight, but through the 
mind of the person who sealed it. Names and dates 
we get in many ways. Sometimes out of the inquirer's 
mind, and oftener on the golden record above. 



28 

" Spirits cannot remain long in the immediate presence 
of their earthly friends. After staying one hour in the 
discordant sphere, our electrical agent is expended and 
our spirit strength exhausted. I must now ascend to 
a more congenial clime." 

One more communication from the same source. 

" Do animals exist after death % They do. In the 
spirit land there is a separate domain containing all the 
various species of the brute creation. But they are in 
a peaceful state — the savage fire of their nature is sub- 
dued. They are -not in a progressive state. Still 
angels as well as men, can awaken in the bosom of an 
affectionate animal a congenial love. The instinct can 
be cultivated, or the soul, in its lowest degree, can be, 
not exalted, but improved. Now the animal kingdom 
is free to all the etherial inhabitants of the spheres ; 
but the animals themselves are confined within the 
boundary line of their kingdom. So you see that it is 
utterly impossible for the roaring lion to go about, 
imparting the demoniacal feelings of his nature through 
the universe ; or for the innocent lamb to mount on 
sylvan wings and pour into the weak minds of men its 
simplicity. 

" I will give you an illustration, to let you see, in its 
true light, the cause of animal communications. 

" Not long ago, I accompanied a large number of 
angels to the enlightened town called Springfield, there 
to impart more knowledge to the inquiring children of 
earth. We winged our way to the humble dwelling of 
an instrument of our cause, and there found clustered 
together a number of persons, each with different 



29 

motives ; and consequently many mixed spirits were 
attracted there. The good angels formed a circle within 
the line of human beings, while the evil, or disgraced 
ones formed a circle without For a while the angels of 
light overpowered the disembodied demons of darkness ; 
but as soon as one of the angels vacated a place, that 
place was filled by an evil disposed spirit, and he, being 
stronger than the pure and holy beings who surrounded 
him, succeeded in banishing us all from the circle. 
We stood at a little distance, and observed the effect of 
the evil influences on the minds of the company. One 
of the assemblage, who scoffed at the beautiful and 
real, inquired for the spirit of an old horse. We anx- 
iously watched the movements of one of the demons, 
who immediately answered to the foolish question, by 
producing loud sounds in imitation of a horse kicking. 
Then commenced the dark scene of confusion, I am 
about faintly to describe. The man who first caused 
the answer, inquired for the spirits of dogs, cats and 
many of the canine race, and received in answer imita- 
tions of scratches, kicks, and other low, discordant 
noises, such as are caused by embodied brutes. The 
bright guardians of light looked on in mute pity, as the 
spirits succeeded in entrancing the medium, and imitat- 
ing the neighs and roarings of horses and lions. Thus 
you see, on the outside of the stage, it appeared to 
mortal eyes and ears, that the spirits of animals did 
produce the disgusting scene ; but behind the curtain 
were the evil designing operators. If they could have 
but beheld those evil operators, what a new chord 
might have been touched ! But the time has not yet 
arrived. Man must receive the evil, and overcome it 



30 

with good. The thin vail shall be raised, and the spirit 
of man shall behold the kindred spirits he attracts. Oh, 
children of the clay, why grovel in the dust 1 Let the 
celestial ministeries of light approach, and lift your 
minds high above holding converse with brutes. In 
this new era, let your feet be turned towards the nar- 
row path which leads to the brightness of God's 
throne. 

From your Spirit Friend, 

Benjamin Franklin." 

After some progress had been made in the prepara- 
tion of this lecture there came to me the following. 

" Gather in one heap the little facts which have 
come under your immediate observation. Trust not 
thy brother's eye for it ofttimes deceives him. Let thy 
foundation be of stone, and angels will wave the glow- 
ing banner of victory on the pinnacle. 

Philosophers, in the spirit world, are seeking new 
modes to manifest themselves more clearly and forcibly. 
There are ten modes. 
1st. Sounds. 
2d. Movements. 
3d. Clairvoyance. 
4th. Spiritual discernment. 
5 th. Hearing. 
The 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th will be unfolded as the 
wheels of time roll on. Speak of the past and present ; 
leave the future to be revealed by beings higher than 
you. 

From your Spirit Friend, 

Benjamin Franklin." 



31 

Let these suffice as samples of the blended moral and 
philosophic. A few miscellaneous ones will be given 
now. 

On one occasion there was written a name known to 
all of us. The first glance at it was a little startling — 
but since the man had once been my acquaintance and 
teacher at Cambridge — and as there had never been 
any other than friendly relations between him and me, 
I asked what he would like to say. The unexpected, 
but not unwelcome reply was, " Pray for me. I am 
not happy. I am alone in the enclosure of repentance." 
Can the prayers of mortals avail you] I asked. He 
answered — " The prayers of mortals soothe me ; no 
more till after your prayer for me to-night." This inci- 
dent has since prompted many a prayer, which, I trust 
has done me no harm, whether it has soothed him or 
not. 

On one occasion, the names of my two nearest de- 
parted relatives were written out in gladdening con- 
junction, and I asked them to unite in a communication. 
These unwelcome words came in response. " I will 
not let your friends come. John Frost Parker of Ohio." 
But why, I said, do you keep friends apart % " For 
fun," he answered. Fun? It must be low fun, that 
would keep loving friends apart. Have you no dispo- 
sition to oblige % " No." Have you no fear of God I 
" No. God is an all-pervading essence. I cannot 
breathe in an atmosphere you have breathed, for you 
have taken all the God out of it. No spirit has seen 
God, for he is more transparent than themselves." 
(When such utterances came, of course, thoughts of 
some graceless being arose in my mind, and I queried 



32 

mentally whether I would receive any thing more ; but 
he was obviously a thinker, and I concluded to let him 
go on, and do not now regret the decision. His next 
words were) — " I have not a single friend on earth now, 
and you oblige me very much by listening to me. 
I am grateful. I had talents but drowned them in 
strong drink. Strong drink is a curse and should be 
obliterated from the face of the earth. I died in Ohio, 
five years ago, at the age of twenty-eight — born in Phil- 
adelphia, and was a jeweller. I privately wrote some 
few sentiments, in moments of emergency, published in 
the New York Tribune. I had no family, was a young 
dissipated wretch. I would like to have Alice know 
that I live — Alice Goodwin — but don't speak of her ; 
it recalls old memories of a broken heart." I said to 
him — Can I be of any servide to you % He answered — 
" You can unfold the goodness of my soul by letting 
me commune with you. My social qualities led me 
astray. My brain was too active, and I defaced the 
God of my nature in strong drink. John F. Parker." 
Now any one of you knows as much about John Frost 
Parker of Ohio as I do, or as my medium does. We 
never heard of such a person, and there was no other 
one present when this communication came. And the 
question comes in with much force, What mind fur- 
nished the statements and thoughts I 

The red men who once owned our hills and plains, 
seem not to have forgotten their former homes. One 
day the following was written out for me. 

" Me one that watches over his bones buried under 
your house. Me been in the spirit land one thousand 
and fifty moons. Me mean you no harm, though me 



33 



come from a low sphere, and me am offensive to the 
pale-faced angels. Yet me love the spot where me 
passed me happy youthful days on the then wild hunt- 
ing grounds. Me cherish no bad feelings towards the 
white skin, who in days of yore wronged me red broth- 
ers of their homes. The Great Spirit teaches I to for- 
give. And me now would eradicate, with tears of 
blood, all wrong, and have peace and happiness in the 
stead of penury and despair. 

Me can hear the hum of strife. Like the buffalo's 
cry it falls on me ear, and as he turns his dying eye on 
I, me strive to staunch the wound me had made. Me 
friend, me can tell you a tale of naked woes which me 
did suffer. Me was once a proud chief. Me had only 
to rub the golden god of me wishes and slaves rose up 
at me bidding. Even now a pang arises in me soul, as 
me am tortured with forgotten memories. Me tell you 
more some time. Me no understand English well. Old 
Black Hawk — me say Old, because me Son the Famous 
Black Hawk." 

On another occasion, where four or five of our most 
intelligent and pure minded gentlemen with their ladies 
were present, the following was given. " Me glad to 
see the pale faces so happy ; that your minds are big ; 
that you almost leave the clay in your search after truth. 
Black Hawk is happy for you are going to join the 
etherial band, who comes from the Great Spirit to 
spread the light. Me holds now over you all the 
scythe of Love ; me will cut down all the weeds of sin 
in your minds, that the blossoms of holiness may grow. 
Black Hawk hears the sweet spirits of harmony whis- 



34 

pering together, and the halo of the spirit world sur- 
rounds you all. Eed Friend, Black Hawk." 

These selections from the communications are made 
extensive, because of my wish to show that there is 
more variety in thought and expression than would 
naturally be expected from the medium or myself, and 
because nearly every one of them gives some new view 
or new thought, which though not specified by me, will 
yet be seen by the observing mind, and may furnish 
valuable suggestions. "With this view let me detain 
you a little longer, while I describe one unique com- 
munication and furnish a few of this Spirit's sayings. 

Entering a medium's room, one morning, I saw a 
gentlemanly intelligent man, apparently about thirty, 
sitting at the table and putting questions. Soon, a tiny 
rap was heard, and the name, Natty, was spelled out. 
" Who are you V ? said the man. " I am your brother" 
was the answer. " No," said the man, " I had no such 
brother." " You had," said the rapper. " No," said 
the man. " Yes," said the other. " Well, let us see," 
added the man. " How old was you, Natty, when you 
died V " Five days," was the answer. " How long 
since you died 1" " Thirty-five years." The gentle- 
man here bit his lip in thought, and said — " I believe 
there was an infant brother who died before I was 
born, but I thought they called him Oliver." " No," 
was the response, " they called him Natty, and I am 
he." " Natty," said the man, " hoiv do you know that I 
am your brother If u By love," he answered. " By 
love ?" said the questioner ; " but don't you love others, 
as well as relatives ?" Ans. " We like others and love 
relatives I" " What," it was then asked, " what is the 



35 

difference between love and like 1" The word LOVE 
was immediately written in large letters, two or three 
inches long, and like was traced under it in very small 
letters. " Natty," continued the man, " you are not my 
brother, but are some one else attempting to impose 
upon me." " I am your brother," was the earnest re- 
joinder. " Then will you tell me what sphere you are 
in?" "The fourth," he said. "The fourth, ah? 
Now I've caught you — for as you died in infancy you 
was fitted for the seventh sphere when you left the 
earth." " I have bee?i there," was the response. " Have 
been there, and yet are now in the fourth ? How is 
that ? are you moving backwards ? coming down V 
" No, I am an adviser in the fourth." " Adviser ! what 
is that? a sort of superintendent?" "Yes." "Oh, 
you are in office then 1" " Yes." " Do you get any pay ? 
We pay well for such things here." " Yes, I get pay." 
"What pay?" " The pleasure of seeing those under me 
progress" I then said to the gentleman stranger, "Sir, 
you have found your match, if not your brother. I 
think I would own the relationship ;" and in continu- 
ance I remarked, that this seemed to be a very bright, 
cheerful spirit; when there was written — " I am always 
laughing." My next remark was—" Natty, I should 
like to make your acquaintance." " Hand out your 
card," was the instant response. Finding no card in 
my pocket, I wrote, secretly, on a slip of paper — Mr. 
Allen Putnam, Eustis St. Eoxbury — turned the paper 
over, placing the writing down upon the table, kept 
my hand over the paper, and asked Natty to make a 
copy. Instantly the medium's hand wrote — Mr. A. P. 
U. St. Rox. The writing on my paper had been seen 



36 

by me alone, and I was looking for a copy in full, but 
received only abbreviations, and those of every word. 
Eustis being reduced to the letter U. This closed my 
first interview with him. 

Some weeks afterwards, when he was forgotten, the 
medium's hand wrote — " Mr. A. P. U. St. Rox. — I have 
used your card." "Natty," said I, "as you left the 
earth when very young, I would like to know how you 
learned the English language." He answered, " My 
mother knew it I think," and asked, "Will you let 
my mama come ?" " Certainly, with pleasure." And 
the following was written. 

" My Friend, you must not be angry with my darling 
boy. It ofttimes grieves me to have him, so pure, use 
such wild phrases. I am your friend as a soldier in 
the cause. Elizabeth Y- ." 

Very often this bright little spark comes out with 
something unexpected, amusing, or witty ; but at all 
times he manifests a very marked disposition to be 
obliging and kind. Once when his communication 
seemed to be closed, I said, " You are not going, Natty V 9 
" Yes — gone — don't you see the dust fly?" "Where," I 
asked, " do you pick up such phrases V* " Hear 'urn." 

On another occasion he said, " My friend, you must 
not put on a long face when you come to talk with 
supposed ghosts. You must not believe all they tell 
you to. You must not go to the end of , the world and 
jump off because they tell you to." 

When once I said to him, " How do you go to work, 
Natty, to use a medium's hand ]" He said, " Why you 



37 

see, we just passes a chain of light around the wrist and 
that sets it to shaking. The next operation is to make 
it write, of course. Sometimes the words are allowed 
to pass through the brain. We now have such a power 
over this medium, that we can make her shake awfully." 

" Try my wrist, Natty," said a lady who was present. 
" Dear Beloved Aunty, I'se got a peck of love for you, 
but I can't make you trace my purified thoughts on the 
clean paper." 

Running through, and underlying these cant phrases, 
and this flippancy, I think the careful observer will 
find food for thought ; hints concerning the sources of 
information that flow from the departed, and concern- 
ing their modes of acting upon us. 

There is not time for me to extend these quotations 
farther. Neither can I detain you by reflections and 
arguments that might be connected with what has been 
given. Though in many cases abridged, yet you have 
had from me, almost invariably, the language precisely 
as it came from the mediums. You have heard their 
words, and I leave them to tell their own story. That 
I had no knoivn agency in these compositions, and that 
they are fairly exhibited, you will believe, if my charac- 
ter for veracity requires you to take my statements. It 
is pleasant to me, that I speak, on this subject, to those 
among whom I have lived for more than ten years. 
The singularity and strangeness of the facts would 
render them incredible, if stated by a stranger's lips 
Whether I have sufficient character to gain credence 
for them is better known to you than to me. 

Some uncommon movements and vocal utterances have 
occurred in my presence. I have seen a table move 



38 

without visible power applied to it, while it was fairly 
before my eyes in the centre of a still room. I have 
had table and stool tip very strongly and decidedly, 
when my own hands, and mine alone, were placed 
gently on, and when I was the only person sitting at it. 
Not however excepting when some medium was stand- 
ing by, reaching over my shoulder, and putting his 
hand gently on the top of mine (for I am no medium). 
At such times, though a large table would tip quite 
over into my lap, /neither pressed upon the table, nor 
felt any thing like pressure from, the medium's hand. 
So far as I can judge, neither of us did any thing more 
than just bring the hands in gentle contact, mine with 
the table and his upon mine. 

I was once writing down a communication as it was 
coming through the medium, and having my left arm 
resting undesignedly upon my paper in such a position 
as to screen my writing from the medium's eye, when 
her hand and pencil came suddenly over my arm, erased 
a word in the middle of a sentence I had just w T ritten, 
and then wrote on her paper a word to be substituted 
for the one erased. Her pencil struck the word on my 
paper with precision and made a mark from its first 
letter to its last, and the whole was executed almost in 
the twinkling of an eye, while the word must have 
been in a position where her eye could not see it by 
any common law of vision. 

Once when the medium had been using the pencil 
for some time, she suddenly held it out towards a gen- 
tleman who was sitting in front of her at the opposite 
side of the table and fixed her eye intently upon his ; 
he returned her gaze — and there they sat, looking at 



39 

each other in blank amazement, nntil I was compelled 
to smile at their ludicrously unmeaning looks. At 
length the medium thrust her pencil into the gentle- 
man's left hand and snatching another that he was 
holding in his right, looked at its point This last 
action revealed to all of us the purpose, and caused a 
general burst of laughter. That gentleman had sharp- 
ened all the pencils when we sat down to the table, and 
when the medium's pencil needed re-sharpening, this 
scene occurred. Such an incident will have little force 
with you, for such an act might be performed volunta- 
rily. The expression on the face of the medium made 
it difficult for the beholder at the time to see in her 
movement an intentional act. Very many little inci- 
dents like this have occurred in my presence, which 
coming out unexpectedly have taught very valuable 
lessons. Sometimes starting useful doubts, but gener- 
ally giving " confirmation strong." Such incidents the 
narrator can seldom set before others with much effect 
or profit. I therefore omit allusion to any more of this 
class. 

When seated once in the presence of a lady of very 
much more than common intelligence and cultivation, 
her hand wrote in very large letters — Emanuel Sweden- 
borg — then straightening up in her chair, the lips 
parted, and for eight or ten minutes there flowed from 
her a stream of moving eloquence, pleading for the 
cultivation of devotional feelings and for the reception 
of truth among men — also expressing a wish that the 
whole New Jerusalem Church might be assembled in 
one vast congregation, and that he might be permitted 
" to thunder in their ears a warning not to follow him 



40 

in two opinions in which he was in error while in the 
body — one concerning the nature of Christ, and the 
other concerning man's progression." This lady of 
keenest intellect, and unquestioned truth, said that she 
exercised no thought, and willed no movement of the 
organs of speech, while the forcible and subduing 
eloquence was gushing through her lips. 

I was once present where a man, apparently entranced, 
said, " There is one person in this room whom I have 
seen before," and rising from the table and passing 
round it to where some ladies were seated, he put his 
hand upon the head of one of them and said — " It is a 
brother of this lady whom I have seen before." Where, 
I asked, did you see him 1 Ans. " Near his home, 
which is near the water fifteen miles or more from 
here " (Roxbury) ; " he was one of the jury that sat 
upon my body." " What was your name V 9 He gave 
it. " Where did you die ?" " In Boston, at the north 
part ; was stabbed, robbed, and thrown overboard." 
" Who stabbed you ?" He gave a name. " When was 
this?" "In 1851." "Where was your home]" "I 
was a sailor." 

When the gentleman recovered from his obvious 
unconsciousness, he asked the family if it was not uncle 
William who had had possession of him and been 
speaking. They answered, " No." Then I asked him, 
if at any time he had been one of a coroner's jury. At 
first he said, " No," but immediately correcting himself 
said, "Yes — once. Three or four years ago, a body 
was washed upon an island off Marblehead, my home, 
and I was one of the jury that sat upon it — there were 
but two or three of us. We saw the appearance of a 
puncture in the side, and conjectured that the person 



41 

might have been stabbed — but the body had obviously 
been in the water for some days ; was disfigured, and 
we knew no name. This is about all that I remember, 
and that is the only time that I was ever one of such a 

jury-" 

You will notice that the apparent speaker in this case, 
said that he had before seen only one of the persons 
then in the room ; that person was brother to the lady 
on whom the medium put his hand. I learned in the 
course of the evening, though I did not know it at the 
time, for I was among strangers, that the medium him- 
self was that brother — he put his hand on his sister's 
head. Now let us suppose that this medium himself 
was the voluntary speaker, and that no spirit controlled 
his organs, and how does he appear'? He says that he 
has never seen any person there present before, except- 
ing himself, the lady's brother — although his mother, 
sister, brother in-law and other relatives were present. 
Also he here gives a name to a murdered man — states 
the place and mode of the murder, and names the mur- 
derer — while as one of the coroner's jury he had found 
no clue to either of these things. A case worth study- 
ing. 

Let this suffice of things which I witnessed in their 
production. Thus far I have stated nothing but what 
my own eyes have seen or my own ears heard. But 
there are some works which I am allowed to exhibit 
here, which were not produced in my presence. Those 
two pencil sketches that hang in frames upon the wall, 
seem to indicate good taste and skill, though in design 
and execution they are unlike any thing to which my 

eyes are accustomed. They are loaned to me by one of 
6 



42 



our most highly respected ladies, living within a few 
rods of this spot, who tells me that they were done by 
her hand, but that she has exercised no thought or will 
about them. She has merely loaned her hand to some 
invisible limner. This you must take upon her vera- 
city, which none of us will doubt. 

In my hand is a piece of lace or edging, which is 
said to be the work of a girl ten or twelve years old, 
who, as the girl herself and her parents say, has never 
been instructed to do such work, and cannot do it now 
in her ordinary condition. But she heard in her ear 
the whispered question, " Wouldn't you like to learn 
to knit?" She answered, "Yes." "Get," said her 
invisible companion, " get some needles and thread and 
I will teach you." The materials were procured, and 
guided from stitch to stich all the way through, by 
instructions whispered in her ear by some unseen 
attendant, she produced this piece of work. Such is 
the declaration of the girl, and the belief of her parents. 

And now I show you another work of her's, which is 
equally remarkable. Neither the girl nor any one in 
the family as I am told and believe, has any acquaint- 
ance with the French language, nor is there known to 
be or ever to have been a French book in the house. 
Yet here in this little album, containing various commu- 
nications from the sister and other visitants of the girl, 
written in exceedingly varied chirography, is one piece 
in French, the letters printed. The father states that 
one evening while the family were sitting together, the 
girl took the pencil and album and wrote for a few 
minutes. And when she attempted to read, she said — 
" Why, father, what have I got here ? I have written 



43 

something that I can't read." He took the book and 
looked, and said to her in reply, " Nor I either." 
When the production was shown to me I knew its 
language and its subject, but wishing to get its mean- 
ing beyond a question, I asked a very much better 
French scholar than myself to furnish me a literal 
translation, which he gave as follows : — 

TRANSLATION. 

The benefits of civilization. For Poetry 
Tasso born in 1547, died 1595. 

" To the charming Eleonora, Tasso read his delicious 
songs of which the echoes still preserve the harmonious 
sounds. By her beautiful eyes his muse is inspired, so 
in his songs forever celebrated. Jerusalem is delivered 
— he remains the captive of so many charms." 

I have ventured upon a less correct, but more free 
translation, as follows :— 

" Tasso read to the charming Eleonora his delicious 
songs, the harmonious sounds of which are still pre- 
served in echo. His muse was inspired by her beau- 
tiful eyes, and in his songs she was forever celebrated, 
xlnd though Jerusalem was delivered, he remained the 
captive of so many charms." 

My friend, the translator, tells me that in the biog- 
raphy of Tasso, he finds 1544: given as the year of his 
birth and 1595 as that of his death. The communica- 
tion fixes the birth at 1547 — but the figure in the 
album, though most like the 7, might be read 4, with- 
out very great violence. And if this were done the 
dates through the medium, and those in the printed 
life will be precisely alike. 



The author of this French, whoever it may have 
been, by introducing Eleonora, and Jerusalem Deliv- 
ered, shows more knowledge of Tasso's works than any 
of us can suppose exists in all the members of the fam- 
ily to which the young medium belongs. 

Within the last fourteen months I have seen twenty- 
two or three different mediums — all but four of them 
private ones — taking no pecuniary compensation — and 
more than half of them are our own citizens, several of 
whom are now present in this assembly. I have spent 
very many hours in their presence. Have seen them 
at their homes — at my own home — and in the parlors 
of neighbors and friends. I have met and watched 
them in the broadest sunlight, and at evening. Every 
desirable opportunity has been furnished me for detect- 
ing machinery, jugglery, or imposture, and I have faith- 
fully, but in vain, strove to find something mundane, a 
sufficient cause for all the wonders. That trick or 
humbug is sometimes attempted, by pretenders to un- 
common susceptibilities, no one will have a wish to 
deny. But very many of the mediums, private ones, 
are as much above these things, as are the very best 
persons among the witnesses. 

One medium, an active, energetic business man of 
more than sixty years, has submitted himself to be used 
by me at any time, however suddenly called upon, 
whether *in his counting room, or in mine — whether 
called in his shirt sleeves from the wood-pile or coal- 
bin, or dressed up and ready for company — and I have 
used him and watched him daily almost, and that too 
through several successive months. Many mediums 
have been watched for long periods, and under quite 



45 

varied circumstamces ; and, though the power exerted 
through any one of them is very far from being uni- 
form, and though the mode of manifestation is in no 
two alike, yet I have seen no sign of its being any 
where applied by machinery ; or of its being varied by 
any preparation or act of the mediums themselves. 
They deny, one and all, young and old, educated and 
ignorant alike — they all deny, and that too in the most 
private and friendly circles, where all the thoughts now 
out, they all deny that they exercise their wills at all 
in the production of these wonders. And I cannot 
rate th&t fairness very high, which in the face of such 
a fact, will persist in saying that all of it is trick, im- 
posture, humbug. More than one hundred thousand 
witnesses have looked on and yet are unable to prove 
to any extent the cheats alleged. More than five thou- 
sand mediums in this country, unitedly and persistently 
declare, that they use no machinery and practice no 
trick. My good friends, and near neighbors, Messrs. 
Howard & Davis, inform me that when furnishing 
standard weights for every town in the Commonwealth, 
they made no provision by which evidence is to be 
weighed differently now from what it was formerly — 
and if the old standard is still applicable, one would 
think that when a thing could formerly be established 
" by the mouth of two or three witnesses" — the mouths 
of five thousand may be allowed at least equal force. 

I have read and digested most of the prominent 
works that have come from the press, purporting to 
find in machinery, demonology, or automatic action of 
the brain a power that is adequate to produce the 
strange works. It is not my purpose to review them — 



46 

I have not time for that. I simply desire to state that 
I have read and studied them, and they fail, in my 
mode of weighing evidence and judging of forces, — 
they fail, individually and collectively, to point out 
causes that are adequate to produce the many and 
varied effects that are seen and heard. " The bed " they 
furnish " is shorter than that " the facts " can stretch 
themselves upon it, and the covering narrower than 
that " they " can wrap themselves in it." Jugglery, 
machinery, electricity, or automacy — neither of them 
can no more do the works that I have witnessed 
through girls of common education, or furnish such 
communications as some that I have read to you, than 
it could have produced and delivered the masterly 
eulogy upon Webster at Hanover, or that unique 
paragraph at Plymouth Rock upon the suspension of 
Nature's laws. The only power named in the works 
referred to that will equal the case, is the demoniacal. 
If the works and words be those of demons, the major- 
ity of the actors in my presence must have been very 
good demons, differing very much in character from 
those of old, whose family name is thrust upon them. 
Such devils, are welcome angels, luring and helping the 
soul on and up to heaven's portals. 

Turning unsatisfied from these works that purport 
to show either mundane, or sub-mundane cause, and 
failing to find among the world's familiar causes, any 
one that seems adequate to the works that pass before 
us — I listen to what purport to be the very words of 
the tippers, the rappers, the writers and the speakers. 
The unseen power seems to have a pencil and a tongue, 
and I ask that power what itself is — and it answers — 



47 

always and everywhere, it answers — c: Spirit " — spirit 
not yours nor mine, nor trie medium's, but the spirit of 
some departed human being. Yes, verily, the unvary- 
ing appearance is, that the actor speaks and gives his 
own account of himself — he says that he is spirit — 
spirit once fettered in human brain and limbs, but now 
released and elevated in power and privileges, yet not 
always in goodness. 

Does such, a witness speak the truth % Does he give 
his proper name, or is it a borrowed one ] That one 
witness, or that several, should often testify falsely and 
deceive, is no more than any extensive observer of men 
would expect. There are liars no doubt both in the 
flesh and out of it. But that several thousand respec- 
table persons, of all ages, classes and creeds, should, 
without concert, at different times and in distant places 
— not once only, but many times and always — that 
these, so many and so varied testifiers and witnesses as 
the many mediums make up — that these should all 
agree in telling ahvays the false and never the true, is 
upon any fair balancing of probabilities, absolutely 
incredible. This position has intrinsic strength ; look 
at it. In some form, this question, viz : — What moves 
you ? has, within the last three years, been put to the 
hand or table of more than five thousand mediums, and 
in the presence of more than one hundred thousand 
witnesses. It has been put to young and old, male and 
female, Christian and infidel, believer in spirits, aye, 
(and mark well the class) to ^believer in spirit pres- 
ence, — to many and many a hand in each of these 
classes has the question been put, — What moves you ? 
And the answer has been one and the same — always 



48 

and everywhere it has been — spirit ; the spirit of some 
departed one. Now such a lie — if it be a lie — is as 
much a moral miracle, as visible angel presence would 
be a physical miracle. Put that case to the jury, where 
£.ve thousand unimpeached witnesses have testified all 
one way, while no rebutting testimony is found — and 
on which side is the verdict 1 I repeat it, that the con- 
cordant word of so many witnesses, possesses great 
intrinsic power. I can do no less than take their 
w r ord. 

How are the sounds, motions, and communications 
made 1 How do spirits work among us ? I say frankly, 
that I do not know. I do not know — and yet I have 
many conjectures and thoughts about it — and it is in 
my reply to this question, that I have hoped to be use- 
ful — hoped to say something that may tend to calm the 
public mind, and lead it to useful investigation and 
reflection. These novel wonders create visions of 
demons, and ghosts and dreaded nothings in many and 
many a brain ; they disturb slumber ; agitate nerve ; 
shake reason ; and unfit thousands to look and hear 
and think in calmness. But all this is because the 
very nature of the strange works is misunderstood. 
These works are all natural — uncommon I allow — but 
yet natural — as much so as the hourly doings of yonder 
familiar telegraph. 

There is nothing miraculous, nothing supernatural 
about them. They suspend no laiv, nor are they above 
the laws of nature. Poxbury Highlands afford a differ- 
ent view from that at Plymouth Pock. 

Gravitation holds your table down, but when you 
lift the table you perform no miracle. When the invis- 



49 

ible wind whirling in the tornado lifts sands, and trees 
and houses — no miracle is wrought. When the sus- 
pended magnet draws up a cambric needle from your 
centre table, though that magnet's power be invisible, 
inaudible, intangible — there is no miracle performed. 
The magnetic attraction is there and then stronger than 
the attraction of gravitation. That is all. 

Magnetism and electricity have existed from the time 
when rocks and metals were first formed. Yet how 
many countless ages upon ages rolled by before man 
learned that the one would cause the mariner's needle 
to swing, and quiver and tremble in restlessness until 
it pointed north, or before the other could be bottled 
up in glass and sealing wax, and made a beneficent 
instrument in man's hands. 

Had a merchant of the last century been told that 
his son would see the time when he could send a mes- 
sage from Boston to New York in five minutes, he 
would have said that no power short of the miraculous 
or supernatural could attain such speed. We however 
know that such speed is attained, and that too without 
miracle. 

Our palpable, visible telegraph, furnishes the most 
illustrative hints that I can give as to the mode in 
which spirits may speak intelligibly to us. 

Man, as our chronology has it, lived nearly six thou- 
sand years before he caught, bridled, and harnessed 
electricity and magnetism, and made them his trusted 
and fleet steeds on the roads from city to city. The 
electricity and magnetism are not new, but our modes 
of using them are new discoveries of human science ; 
and the works they do are new and wonderful, but not 
7 



50 

miraculous. No. Yonder wires are working no mira- 
cle — but they are giving evidence that man has been 
making advances in knowledge, science, and art — evi- 
dence that man is acquiring a more intimate acquaint- 
ance with nature's susceptibilities, and more control 
over her subtle but mighty forces. He now has 
learned to employ nature's everlasting forces, so as to 
do many and vast things which rise above and beyond 
the dreams or the hopes of his fathers. In knowledge 
of nature's laws and forces, and in power to make them 
his mighty ministers, man is beyond all question pro- 
gressive. 

Now will it be asking too much if I invite you to 
suppose that the human soul after it has left the body, 
is neither omniscient nor omnipotent ? If you will admit 
the supposition that the departed soul is still some- 
thing less than the eternal God, then there is room for 
the departed family of man to be growing in knowledge 
and power. The vast risen family of man, robed in 
spiritual bodies, may be progressive. That family 
above may be steadily acquiring more acquaint- 
ance with the natural properties and laws of that 
spirit world in which it now dwells, also with the sub- 
stances and laws which bind together and govern all 
earths, all heavens, all men and all angels ; and it may 
be discovering and devising new modes by which to 
exert more widely and distinctly its beneficent influ- 
ences ; it may have but recently taught its telegraph 
man's language, and trained it to speak in words which 
we can understand. 

Since man makes progress here, why may not disem- 
bodied man make progress hereafter — not in morals 
and devotion merely, but in all science— in acquaint- 



51 

ance with the laws and properties and powers of nature 
in that world where the dead now live] Man here 
has but just learned how to send his messages on elec- 
trical wings from north to south over the land — and is 
the supposition too strange that departed man — still 
progressive — may also recently have discovered new 
modes of sending his knowledge and wishes to such 
intelligences as are in a state to receive them % But I 
will not press this supposition ; for it implies something 
more than the case requires. 

Let me make another. Suppose that man has been 
so ignorant or superstitious in most past ages, that 
spirits, though having power and desire to help him, 
have yet found that whatever they attempted for this 
purpose has only frightened and disturbed him — has 
made him tremble and shrink under the apprehension 
that witches and evil spirits were seeking his harm. 
Suppose that they have failed to benefit him openly, 
because he could not or would not understand their 
purpose and receive their aid. Suppose that their 
efforts at Delphos, in Scotland, in France, at Salem and 
numerous other places were so misunderstood and per- 
verted, that they have kindly left man to work his way 
up, without their open and avowed aid, to an elevation 
at which he would investigate calmly ; would have 
strength and courage to face facts, however strange 
and startling. And suppose yet one thing more, viz : 
That the liberty of conscience and the free thought, 
which have taken root and nourished in this western 
soil, have now grown so strong, that the watchers 
above and beyond the vail, see an opportunity to make 
themselves distinctly known and understood — an oppor- 



52 

tunity to get a firm and welcome foothold in our 
midst, and thus make themselves, as they wish to be, 
our teachers, guides and helpers. Suppose these things, 
and allow me to recall to your notice some short pas- 
sages in communications that have previously been 
read. 

You may remember that one of my departed female 
relatives seems to have said — " The spirit or soul is 
composed of electricity. It is enabled to communicate 
by an agent, termed by philosophic men, refined elec- 
tricity." 

Franklin seems to say that — " Philosophers in the 
spirit world are seeking new modes to manifest them- 
selves more clearly and forcibly. There are ten modes. 
1st. Sounds. 2d. Movements. 3d. Clairvoyance. 4th. 
Spiritual Discernment. 5th. Hearing. The 6th, 7th, 
8th and 9th will be unfolded as the wheels of time 
roll on." 

One of my companions, says — " Even now as I touch 
the fine thread of light that moves the medium, the 
cherub is drawing sweet strains from the harp of 
Hope !" 

And my playful little favorite, Natty, says — " We 
just pass a chain of light around the wrist and that sets 
it to shaking." 

These things and others of similar import that have 
been said in my presence, very naturally suggested the 
inquiry whether the strange works were not performed 
by the instrumentality of animal magnetism, odyle, 
" mundane imponderable," or some subtle fluid not 
well understood by man, but which these invisible 
teachers, accommodating their words as well as possible 



53 

to man's comprehension, call refined electricity, though 
they may mean by it something as much finer than the 
electricity which man elicits by machinery, as that is 
finer than the iron rods along which it rushes. I can- 
not prove that it is so — neither can I prove that there 
is a home for departed spirits — yet I believe both. 
Prove to me, philosophically, that the soul lives after the 
death of the body. And then I, using your own means 
and methods of proofs will try at least to prove to you, 
that the soul may be called electrical, and that it can 
use as an instrument to move both mind and matter, 
all electricity that is less refined, and consequently less 
powerful than itself. 

That the position which is here taken, viz : — That 
these wonderful works are performed by spirits — them- 
selves electrical — using refined electricity as their in- 
strument, does not stand solely as my conjecture from 
the words that have been furnished to me— let me 
refer you to the source whence I first derived the 
thought. In the Philosophy of Spiritual Intercourse, 
by A. J. Davis, page 77, you will find what purports to 
be a communication from Dr. Franklin, the prominent 
points of which I proceed to present. 

Spirits in all past times where they have communi- 
cated with man, observed, though they did not well 
understand the great principles of " aromal intercourse." 

(No explanation of this term " aromal," is given in 
the work from which I abridge — but observation and 
reflection have led me to a conjectured understanding 
of it which I will attempt to illustrate. Place a small 
bunch of fragrant violets in each of two vases upon 
your centre table, and the aroma or fragrance of each 



54 

bunch will extend to the other, and blend with the 
other's aroma both around and in the bunch, and 
through all the space between the two. Now these 
lines or rays of fragrance from one, that intermix with 
and run parallel to similar lines from the other, may be 
telegraphic wires along which the violets might, if 
intelligent, send back and forth their mutual thoughts 
and feelings. Remove one bunch of violets and put a 
rose in its place, and the blended rays will produce a 
different odor, which might be more agreeable to some 
of us, and less so to others. A similar blending of 
electrical aromas doubtless takes place when any two 
of us meet, and also between each of us and any spirit 
that may be in attendance upon us. Such aroma, 
though it escapes our senses, is yet perceived by the 
dog. And the dog's power of discernment teaches that 
no two of us give off effluvia that are precisely alike. 
Now the electrical evolutions of one human body may 
be such as will readily combine with the electrical ema- 
nations from some spirits, and the two in close and 
concordant alliance, like muscle and nerve, may be 
adequate to the performance of such works as we are 
now considering. Some such affinity and coalescence, 
I suppose takes place, wherever one is what we call a 
medium. But the same electrical condition in a spirit 
which adapts him or her to work through some one of 
us, may yet be unsuited to work kindly with another 
person whose electrical aroma is either much more or 
much less positive. Spirits may differ as much in 
power to use men, as men differ in susceptibilities to 
be used by the spirits. The work is done through an 
aromal intercourse, and it is only when the spirit 



55* 

aroma, and the mundane aroma, combine in harmoni- 
ous equilibrium — making as it were but one, and that 
one, subject to the spirit's will, that man becomes the 
spirit's instrument. Violet and violet may furnish an 
efficient mixture, while violet and rose combined may 
be unfit for use.) 

Now let me resume my abridgment of Franklin's 
exposition. Spirits, he says, in all past times, when 
they have communicated with man, observed, though 
they did not well understand the great principle of 
aromal intercourse. Studying, with calm and fervent 
joy, the principles of electricity — " I have contemplated 
this element's mighty workings in Nature's great ner- 
vous system ; its passing from constellation to constella- 
tion ; from planet to planet ; and in all its far-search- 
ings and multifarious operations I have seen God" The 
time having arrived when many minds on earth have be- 
come prepared by the advancements which the various 
sciences have made there, " I suggested to my compan- 
ions the propriety of demonstrating, upon that birth- 
place of the human mind, the doctrine of immortality, 
to the end that man's ever searching soul might there 
no more, in its early stages of existence, have its bright 
light clouded by the ' shadows of death,' — a gloom of 
ignorance which we, for want of palpable evidences, 
had ourselves experienced on the earth." " I proposed 
the opening of a material instrumentality which would 
be of universal use." For " though numerous mani- 
festations of spiritual power had been made to the 
earth's inhabitants, in ages past, by the panthea principle 
of aromal intercourse ; yet the scientific method had not 
been perceived nor practiced ; therefore no permanent or 



• 56 



essential results had as yet been obtained. I listened 
to the serene observations of Fenelon and William 
Ellery Channing, who declared that from their co-equal 
researches into the moral and spiritual necessities of 
mankind, it was their knowledge, that in case such 
aromal communication could be established, the people 
on some portions of the earth would listen, and be 
thereby advanced towards enlightenment, wisdom, unity 
and truth. Thus I was assured that the time was now 
past when these things would have been ignorantly 
termed demonism, enchantment or witchcraft ; and that 
instead of the cross for the new ; the scaffold for the 
strange and wonderful, there now stood erected, upon 
the earth, a broad and high platform, from whence the 
voice of truth went forth over all the land." 

" Thus encouraged, I unrolled the principles of my 
discovery, and accompanying my numerous associates 
to a position from which we — united in purpose as one 
strong mind — commissioned and directed, by an exer- 
cise of our volition, an aromal current to produce 
vibrations in the house of a gentleman of distinction 
and learning in Germany. We slightly moved the bed 
upon which he was then reposing. We operated upon 
his pillow, causing sounds resembling the dropping of 
water. We caused vibrations upon his shoulder and 
thus fairly awoke him ; whereupon his agitation dissi- 
pated the aromal element which at that particular time 
his spirit exhaled, and which ive had taken advantage of 
for our experiment." 

After this trial, Franklin with his associates took a 
view of many places, mostly in America, " to find the 
necessary and essential external and material conditions," 



57 

and at length, after many trials, in western New York, 
succeeded in opening communications which have en- 
gaged the world's attention. x 

In these selections, you are shown my leading 
thoughts concerning the origin and nature of spirit 
manifestations, such as we have at this day. 

Their wide and rapid spread through all classes, and 
among many nations — also the definiteness of their 
import and the intelligibility of their language, result 
from a recent discovery by spirits, of some new " scien- 
tific" method of using the old, the everlasting electrical 
element that is ever working throughout nature's great 
nervous system. Spirits have recently discovered a 
new process of telegraphing to us. The instrumen- 
tality is material ; the conditions are material ; the use 
of the instrument is as free to bad spirits as to good 
ones. It has no moral or intellectual tastes or prefer- 
ences. Our wires will as readily transfer a message 
from one villain to his companion in villany, as they will 
carry the most affectionate sentiment from one devout 
man to another ; so will the aromal electricity which 
spirits have learned to curb and guide, be the servant 
of any spirit whatsoever, who conforms his processes 
to the proper natural laws. There is then nothing 
miraculous; nothing strictly supernatural; nothing 
peculiarly demoniacal; nothing which God controls 
any more than he does the rains which come alike upon 
the just and the unjust ; nor any more than he does 
the lightnings which flash athwart the skies, or the 
electrical current, which carries your message or mine, 
be it good or be it evil, to a distant friend. 

Such is my view. I have asserted it boldly, as 
8 



58 

though it were proved true, or as though I could prove 
it so. But this has not yet been done nor do I feel 
adequate to such a work. I have been bold, because I 
wished to draw the attention of all careful observers ; 
all thorough investigators ; all truly scientific and logi- 
cal minds. A view is here presented — I hope with 
definiteness enough to be distinctly seen — which, if 
correct, may calm the agitated nerve, resolve frightful 
mystery into beneficent naturalness, and open a familiar 
way for the wisest among us to obtain lessons in all 
science, and art, and devotion, from teachers, who though 
fallible, are yet more experienced, more wise, and more 
elevated, than any who are trammeled in flesh. Having 
reflected upon the view for many months, it has to me 
the aspects of a sound and true one. At least it ap- 
pears to me suggestive of a direction in which we may 
look, with good hope, for a solution of the marvels. 
Not that I expect or wish, that on its first presentation, 
you will receive it as a satisfactory explanation. Take 
it, not for immediate adoption, but for investigation, 
for sifting and for thorough scrutiny. Try it well ; and 
in the end, value it, at just what it shall seem to you 
worth— -no more. 

But should you, in proper time, come to see as I do 
now, you then can regard the marvels as being wrought 
in conformity with fixed, everlasting, ever acting natu- 
ral law s-*- as far removed from the miraculous, the 
supernatural, the devilish, as are the messages that 
come and go over our wires. And if the action of this 
view shall be in you, like what has been felt in my own 
case, you will soon learn to sit at the tipping table as 
calmly as you can wait at the post or telegraph office. 



- 59 

And when the message comes, it may be more affecting, 
but you will deem it no more miraculous, than one from 
your friend in New Orleans or Washington. 

These statements show you in what direction my 
own thoughts run ; and they let you see how I may, as 
I in fact do, look upon this subject as one that should 
be as calmly observed, as closely scrutinized, as faith- 
fully reasoned upon, as the strange facts and lessons of 
the far, far distant past, which the geologist is finding 
as he reads backwards, and turns over some new leaf 
in " Earth's Autobiography." Our age is finding start- 
ling facts — far, far away down in the deep sunken val- 
leys, where the wheels of time rolled before man's being 
on earth began. Not alone in advance then, but from 
behind us also, are the works of God receiving new 
illuminations. And look where we may, let us do it 
with the steady gaze, and calm strength of those who 
feel that all — all is under God's direction, and that he 
will be, and is, our shield and our defence. 

Life's pathway has seemed to myself and many others 
to be illumined with a new light — either an ignis fatuus, 
a false light, luring to dismal swamps of error and dis- 
quietude, — or, it is a sun, conceived from creation's 
dawn, in nature's living laws — now but beginning to 
shine on man with steady light, and promising to guide 
his steps to long-hidden fountains of truth and glad- 
ness. Is it a phantom, or a sun 1 Is it a creature of 
deluded human brains, or is it the handiwork of the 
eternal God ? Having used my own senses — those, to 
me, best possible witnesses — and having used them in 
this work for more than a year, I am prepared to receive 
the light that is now struggling through the mists around 



60 

us, as the dawn of a new day. And if it has been my 
lot, as we are performing our march over life's hill-tops 
and down across its valleys — if it has been my lot to 
stand on a spot where its earlier beams have met my 
eye — why shall not I speak of the cheering event to 
those, whether before or behind me, who are now 
marching in the shaded valley % 

Thus now, my bread, or what seems such to my eyes 
and taste, is cast upon these waters. It will doubtless 
return to me — but whether of a finer wheat and sweeter 
taste, or coarse and unpalatable — whether to make you, 
my friends, regard me as foolish or as wise, is known 
not to me, but yet is known to Him — the Maker of the 
wheat — the Guardian of the waves — the Great Requirer 
of truthfulness. 

It has been my purpose, in which I hope I have 
succeeded, to refrain from sarcasm, ridicule or abuse 
towards any one. There are views and feelings con- 
nected with this subject, which tell me that such in- 
struments would be unsuited to my hands on this occa- 
sion. I have to thank you, not only for your attend- 
ance here to-night, but for that prevailing kindness, 
delicacy or respect, which has restrained each and every 
friend or acquaintance from the least syllable of sneer, 
or slur, or censure, in my hearing, during the whole 
time that I have been investigating this subject. I 
speak it in thankfulness, that by no averted look, or 
unkind act, has any one cast a shadow upon my path, 
while many of you must have been thinking that I was 
foolishly following the shadows of a shade. 

I ask not that you should believe as I do. I did not 
come here to advise you what to believe. A part of 



61 

what I have seen and thought — though only a small 
part has been told — not enough of itself to justify any 
one of you in believing — yet enough, I trust, to start 
candid, fair and thorough inquiry in your minds — I do 
not wish my words to have any immediate effect beyond 
that of exciting you to inquire candidly for facts. Do 
spirits speak to us, or do they not ] Find the fact as 
you shall have opportunity. That is all that I advise 
or wish. 

Predictions as to the effects of these wonders do not 
belong to me nor to man. If facts, they are facts above 
man's working ; and he must take them, whether in his 
limited vision they promise to work weal or woe. The 
why they come at this time, and for what purpose, belong 
to Him to whom a thousand years are as one day, and 
who knows the end from the beginning. The future is 
his ; we cannot pry into that if we would. In my 
remarks, I suppose myself to be dealing with the recent 
past and the present, and not at all with the future. 
One is not trying to pry irreverently into the future, 
however earnestly he may strive with unfaltering and 
unwearied step to keep up side by side with the on- 
rolling wheels of the 'Present. These strange sights 
and sounds are not future, but most distinctly present ; 
now, in this age — this day — this hour — they are before 
our eyes. God in his providence is holding them up 
before us now. And when His hand holds them here, 
is it more reverent to shut up the vision, or to look 
upon the gift of his wisdom and love ! 

Also in allusion to the effects of these wonders, I 
choose not to speak of what will be — but of what is. 
That wide-spread half faith in immortality, which but 



62 

just keeps half the members of the Christian commu- 
nity from denial, and goes no farther than that, is 
receiving new vitality and vigor, and growing up to the 
stature and power of undoubting trust. Many think 
they are furnished with positive demonstration of that 
immortality, which Christ only proclaimed. The 
thoughts and affections are lifted heavenward, more 
than before. It must be so when one sees the long 
absent travelers returning from beyond the hidden 
bourne, and finds them willing and eager to help us on 
and up to plains of higher knowledge, devotion and joy. 
The sceptic — himself tells me so — the sceptic joins the 
trusting band ; the believer — I know it, and others say 
it — the believer girds himself about with new faith. 
Will it not be so, if the loved and buried, no longer 
lost, but found, stretch down their helping hands, and 
speak their cheering words ! There is vast uplifting 
power in the belief, that good kindred angels are pres- 
ent to guide our feet in the paths of truth and peace ; 
to breathe around and through us a purer charity, a 
brighter hope, a serener joy, than belong to our clay- 
bound souls. 

Recently, since men have begun to learn that the 
ascended parent, wife, husband, brother, sister, child, 
embryo infant, friend — each pours down from above, 
words of kind endearment, and beckons the doubting 
soul onward and upward — since this knowledge has 
dawned upon us — some of the family below trust that 
they have begun to move onward and upward, with 
firmer step ; steadier progress ; more confiding trust — 
to join the family above, 

" Where the anthems of rapture unceasingly roll, 
And the smile of the Lord is the life of the soul." 



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